Vegas restaurant makes list of top Texas barbecue spots outside Texas

It’s always satisfying to be recognized by the experts as an expert yourself.

And so it’s especially noteworthy that SoulBelly BBQ in downtown Las Vegas has been named by Texas Monthly, where they know a brisket or two about Texas barbecue, as one of the best places in the U.S. outside the Lone Star State to get Texas-style low and slow.

Daniel Vaughn, the magazine’s barbecue editor, an avowed barbecue fiend and the author of “The Prophets of Smoked Meat: A Journey Through Texas Barbecue,” spent 16 months traveling to 37 states (except Texas) to try 149 spots that offered Texas barbecue. He revealed the 53 best in an August article.

Texas barbecue, though there are regional variations within the state, is defined by beef brisket and other meats smoked over certain hardwoods.

“I learned that Texas barbecue has become so influential that it is now the definitive barbecue style of America,” Vaughn writes. “The Texas influence can be found on the menu of nearly every new barbecue joint that opens, and cooking with all wood has never been more popular.”

Bruce Kalman, a James Beard Award nominee and a champion on Food Network’s “Chopped,” opened SoulBelly in 2021. The Mill Scale offset smokers in front of the restaurant “let you know this place is serious about cooking with wood,” Vaughn writes.

Since SoulBelly debuted, “the team’s barbecue skills have developed … and they’re now serving impressive sliced brisket, savory pork ribs, and housemade green chile and cheese sausages,” Vaughn continues. Another taste of Texas: chile con carne made from smoked brisket chunks and barbacoa, then served on corn tortillas.

Vaughn also praised the smoked burger on a house bun — “pure pleasure” — and the mac and cheese, especially the deep-fried mac and cheese balls. “I don’t know of another barbecue joint that makes its own pasta for mac and cheese, and this one’s a stunner.”

Brisket is also stacked high for The Belly of Soul Sandwich, which lists to one side under its own weight: sliced meat, fried egg, pickled onions, crisp onions, cheese sauce, spicy barbecue sauce.

In June, SoulBelly was named to the Review-Journal’s Top 100 Restaurants. SoulBelly is at 1327 S. Main St. Visit soulbellybbq.com.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.